Victoire de Castellane transforms Dior’s high fashion in to High jewellery  

How cute, how clever, how fashion, how Dior!

The jewels, set among the haute-couture clothes that inspired them, was the idea of designer Victoire de Castellane, who not only placed rounded pieces beside Dior’s famous, curvy Bar suit, but made jewels in frills of rubies and diamonds inspired the famous 1947 collection known as the New Look.

These vividly colourful jewels were created with blood-red rubies and inky sapphires facing off diamonds, with all the stones set in white gold.

I was especially drawn by fancy yellow and orange diamonds undulating in drapes inspired by the hipline sketched by Christian Dior for the 1948 season.

So what exactly came out of the inspiration of the curvy white Bar jacket and black pleated skirt? An elegant onyx and jet ring, perhaps?

No! Victoire offered a ring of undulating stones in pretty colours: pink sapphires, emeralds, garnets and purple sapphires, setting off the baguette-cut diamonds. The Dior ateliers took two months to set each band of stones with even more handiwork than a collection of haute couture.

The Archi Dior jewels will be on display at the Biennale de Paris, at the Grand Palais from September 11-21.